mellovsmillónWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mello is a verb, millón is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mello” is a verb and “millón” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,057
“mello” frequency rank
#2,217
“millón” frequency rank
48274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mello millón
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de mellar. Cantidad igual a mil millares, 1 000 000, 10⁶.

Where the eye mixes mello and millón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
mello
6 ch
millón

Visual trap between mello and millón

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mello is [ˈmeʝo] while millón is [miˈʝõn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mello is recorded at frequency rank #46,057, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmeʝo]. millón is at rank #2,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced [miˈʝõn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 48274, this pair ranks #115,378 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mello vs millón

Shared letters: lm. Private to "mello": eo. Private to "millón": inó.

"mello" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "millón" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • melloemllo · melo · melol · mlelo · mmello

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mello" for "millón" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mello" is a verb and "millón" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mello" vs "millón" - which ranks higher?
"millón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,217 in our Spanish list, against #46,057 for "mello". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mello" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "millón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,378 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mello" and "millón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mellado vs mello". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #115,378 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list